Blatt downs former team as Olympiacos triumphs

Olympiacos Piraeus improved to 3-1 with an 88-80 home victory over Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv as Reds coach David Blatt downed his former team. Maccabi led early, but Olympiacos rallied in the second quarter and was in front the rest of the way, establishing several double-digit leads against a visiting side that never gave up. Vassilis Spanoulis led the scoring for the hosts with 16 points, while Axel Toupane netted 4-of-5 triples in his total of 15. Nigel Williams-Goss scored 14, Georgios Printezis added 13 and Zach LeDay netted 12 points in victory. The game’s biggest individual performance came from Maccabi's DeAndre Kane with 22 points and 6 assists, while John DiBartolomeo, Michael Roll and Johnny O'Bryant all scored 12 as Maccabi fell to 1-3.

Both offenses were strong early, with Kostas Papanikolaou and O'Bryant scoring the first 5 points for their teams. The scoring then slowed before a slam and three-pointer by Kane made it 11-18, but consecutive baskets from Williams-Goss made it closer. It was 18-21 after 10 minutes and Maccabi's lead soon grew with a triple from Angelo Caloiaro. But three-pointers from Janis Timma and Toupane capped an 11-0 run to send Olympiacos ahead, before a three-pointer and a trio of free throws from Spanoulis helped stretch the gap to 45-37 at the break. Olympiacos made a dominant start to the third quarter to open up a 15-point lead as Spanoulis combined with Nikola Milutinov for an alley-oop layup and then hit another three-pointer. A 0-6 run featuring two baskets from Kane kept the contest alive, and a big alley-oop slam from Tarik Black was followed by a three-pointer by DiBartolomeo to make it 61-55. But Spanoulis capped a rapid 7-0 run with his third triple to re-establish a double-digit lead. Maccabi was unable to mount a serious charge in the fourth quarter and a fastbreak layup by Williams-Goss made it 75-60. A 7-point burst from the previously scoreless Roll kept the visitors hoping, but a pair of triples from Toupane steadied the ship and Olympiacos eased home.

Shooting accuracy sees Reds home

A significant factor behind Olympiacos's victory was superior shooting accuracy from all areas. The home team shot 62.9% on two-pointers, 42.9% on three-pointers and 77.3% on free-throws, compared to 50%, 39.1%, and 75% for Maccabi.

Sharing the ball pays dividends

Part of the reason for those solid shooting stats was Olympiacos's ability throughout the whole team to move the ball well to create open looks. The Reds recorded a total of 18 assists through 10 different players, while Maccabi’s 14 assists were shared between just five players.

Career-highs for Kane

Despite ending up on the losing side, DeAndre Kane shined for Maccabi by scoring a career-high 22 points, converting 6 of 8 two-pointers and 3 of 4 triples. His 6 assists and 3 steals were also personal bests.

Next round

Olympiacos will look for its fourth win of the season with an exciting trip to CSKA Moscow, and Maccabi is on the road again to face FC Barcelona Lassa.

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID

Olympiacos Piraeus

"We didn’t start aggressively on defense and gave up 15 points in the first five minutes. We couldn’t afford to allow ourselves to play that way. We picked it up and it's a good job we did because Maccabi is a very good team. I'm proud of our guys because it was an important win for us."

"That was a tough basketball game and I thought both teams played pretty well. We took control and managed to play the game the way we wanted to play it. But it wasn’t easy at all. I’m very proud of the way our players responded to last week, and that shows what kind of character we have."

SPAHIJA, NEVEN

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

"Olympiacos was the better team tonight. We played a pretty good game in the second half, but not enough to surprise Olympiacos who played very smart, getting us into foul trouble and going to the free throw line. We showed a big difference in the second half, we were more mature, but to beat Olympiacos we have to play consistently for 40 minutes. We were without Pargo and Wilbekin, and I don’t even need to say how important that is for us. Let's be honest: without them we have a lack of playmaking."

Players

SPANOULIS, VASSILIS

Olympiacos Piraeus

"We really wanted this game because we didn’t do a good job in our previous game against Milan. We've got a lot of things to improve, but every win is important in EuroLeague."

WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL

Olympiacos Piraeus

"Coach mentioned at halftime that we were playing with energy in one quarter, and in the second half we wanted to do that for 20 minutes. I think we did a good job."

KANE, DEANDRE

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

"First of all you’ve got to give them credit. They're a good team, they capitalize on a lot of mistakes when you make them, but for me I think we beat ourselves today. A few things we could have done better, we gave them a lot of free throws in the first half, fouling them unnecessarily, but we can take a lot of good from this game. We played without two point guards, but we fought, we fought for 40 minutes and that's what it takes to build championship teams. We'll look at film and learn how to get better together and move on to the next game."